Talks to buy US F-16 fighters are still on, Taiwan says

Aug 16, 2011, 5:40 GMT

Taipei - Negotiations for Taiwan to buy new generation F-16 fighter jets from the United States were still on, despite a report that Washington was backing out of the deal, a Taipei official said.

'Our point of view on the F-16s is resolutely unchanged,' the Defence Ministry said in a statement released late Monday.

'The ministry will use every means to urge that US side pay close attention to the imbalance of power across the Taiwan Strait and sell us the F-16 C/Ds soon.'

On Sunday, a report in US magazine Defense News said a US delegation visited the island this month to call off the sale of 66 new F-16 C/Ds to Taiwan, and to offer to upgrade their existing squadron of older model F-16 A/Bs instead.

Defence Ministry spokesman Luo Shou-he was not aware of such a conversation, the statement said.

US and Taiwan officials said Monday that no decision had been taken. A final announcement for the 8-billion-dollar deal was due by October 1.

The deal has strained relations with China, which has viewed Taiwan as a breakaway province since the end of the civil war in 1949, although ties have been warming since 2008.

Some observers have said that an upgrade deal for Taiwan's older planes would be a compromise, allowing the US to honour its obligation to help Taiwan defend itself, but without alienating China, an important trade partner.

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